Our goal is that learners will attain a high level of engagement early in their studies and will develop as creative and critical thinkers, writers and speakers. Our focus is on changing the way we teach and therefore we incorporate different learning styles to achieve a more individual approach to learning. The focus is on our core curriculum and presenting it to our learners in a more relevant and media rich format.

Our Curriculum

We developed our own curriculum by using various open source material, available from the Department of Basic Education. These materials form the foundation of our basic content. Our curriculum development is in line with the prescribed CAPS (Curriculum Assessment Policy Standards) guidelines. Learners receive this curriculum through printed textbooks and in an e-format.

Technology integration

Eversdal is a Microsoft Showcase School that uses Office365 software on different devices. Office365 is available to all our learners, free of charge. We have a BYOD-programme (Bring Your Own Device) that allows for various devices to be used at school. Learners that do not bring their own device to school, work on the school’s tablets.

Tablet education enable students to strengthen themselves educationally by creating their own content and to communicate this through working with different media as well as collaborating with students from around the world. We speak less and learn more. When learners create themselves, they understand better.

OneNote as means of instruction

Our staff teach our curriculum through Microsoft OneNote. OneNote is accessible anywhere anytime on a desktop computer/laptop, tablet or mobile phone. The OneNote platform of the individual learner entails that he/she receives their learning content (textbook) electronically, in colour. Within this platform, teachers can insert any additional content in any media (e.g. normal content, pictures, videos, voice explanations, etc.) within the subjects.

This platform is the basis from where all learning in the class takes place. The teacher projects his/her content directly from their tablet onto the board or television. The advantage of this is that all the media rich content is “live” and by this we make provision for all the different learning styles in the classroom. The fact that all the relevant content is available in one structured platform, makes it easy for our learners to function effectively. The learning environment of each learner is “private” with only the teacher that has access to it. This makes it easy for teachers to monitor individual learning and to provide additional support.

This opens a whole new level of learning and teaching our learners can work at their own pace and be empowered to be actively involved in their own learning. By making notes, inserting relevant media and creating content, our learners become equipped with very important skills that will develop important intellectual ways of thinking and reasoning.

STEM Curriculum

To ensure that we challenge our learners to develop new ways of thinking, we have a STEM Curriculum (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). We do critical problem-solving projects to express our creative thinking through design and fabrication.

Coding

Our learners from Grade 4 to 7 do coding to develop logical thinking and problem-solving skills. We code through Scratch. Learners enjoy creating their own environment where they can showcase their solutions to problems.